Manual Andrew Martinez pretended he was a priest when he was a young boy, pronouncing blessings on the heads of friends.

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Though Manual Andrew Martinez didn't make it as priest, he helped needy (Courtesy Steve and Shannon Dux)

When he was old enough he became an alter boy at St. Dominic Catholic Church at 3053 West 29th Ave. and for a year his family sent him to a catholic school.

“He was so into Jesus,” said his younger brother Steve Dux. “It was his number one thing.”

After high school, Martinez enrolled in a seminary near Denver with the intention of becoming a priest.

Though it didn’t work out, Martinez never abandoned his goal in life to help other people. He volunteered at a mission called Jesus Saves and attended mass regularly.

Dux said he believes his brother may have been trying to help the wrong people on Dec. 17, 1994, when he was tied up in an alcove near an old federal building at 20th and Stout streets, beaten and strangled. He died at the age of 35.

Police speculated that his killers may have been homeless because all of Martinez’ clothes except for his underwear were taken from him.

Dux may have tried to help some helpless people who turned on him.

Martinez was strangled so hard with a winter scarf his mother had just given him that his eyes popped out of his head and were found in the street, Dux said.

“They put his wallet over his eyes,” he said.

But first, the killers took what little change he had in his wallet.

According to Denver police he was tied between two pipes and beaten.

His skull was cracked and he was beaten so severely that he was unrecognizable, Dux said. Blood was all over the ground. His bloody handprint was on the wall. The only sure way to identify him was through dental records, Dux said.

Dux said police have not been able to find any physical evidence tying the killer to the scene.

Martinez’ dream of becoming a priest hit a snag when he started using acid with friends while attending the seminary, his brother said.

He was kicked out of the school.

Thereafter, he struggled to find work and often cleaned up in bars after hours and took temporary labor jobs.

Police say he was living with his mother and attending school to become an electrician when he was killed.

On the night he was killed Dux said he believes his brother was walking to a bus station to catch a ride home from the Jesus Saves Mission.

Dux said his parents and another brother are dead and he is the only one left from the family to see that justice is done.

He hopes someone who knows something about the case will come forward and talk to police.

Contact information: Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867. Denver Post reporter Kirk Mitchell can be reached at 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com